For You History Buffs

This is interesting. According to recently released documents from the British National Archives, only four years after the events of Black September in 1970, in which Palestinian guerrilla organizations brought Jordan to the brink of civil war, (Yasser Arafat was head of the PLO at the time) King Hussein of Jordan invited Arafat to become deputy prime minister in his government.

Yasser Arafat offered leading role in Jordan(Daily Telegraph)

By Peter Day

“King Hussein of Jordan was prepared to make Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian leader, his deputy prime minister, according to newly released secret documents. The proposal was made through an intermediary in 1974 as the king faced the prospect of a Palestinian government in exile attempting to divide his country. The Jordanian West Bank territories — where most Palestinian refugees lived — were occupied by Israel as a result of the Yom Kippur war in October 1973.

Mr Arafat, as leader of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, was agitating for their return to form an independent state. He was backed by Egypt, Syria and Saudi Arabia.

King Hussein feared the break-up of his kingdom, with territory on both sides of the Jordan river being ceded to the Palestinians, and sought to woo Arafat in 1974, according to files released yesterday at the National Archives.

However, the proposal appears to have led nowhere and later that year the king conceded the prospect of a separate Palestinian state.“